PODCAST

Economic Update

Progressive Radio Network

Richard D. Wolff, a weekly TV and radio show and podcast

news & politics

All Episodes

29:00

Economic Update: Higher Education Labor United...

Economic Update ·

2025/09/27

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the Vermont Public Employers who got the contractual right to act with pay to "defend democracy," Tesla’s board offers Musk a $1 trillion CEO pay package, Trump and top corporate executives merge at Intel and other hi-tech corporations, quite like the mergers in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The second half of the show features an interview with Joe Berry and Helena Worthen, long-time organizers of 'contingent'

29:00

Economic Update: The Fight Against Money Corrupting...

Economic Update ·

2025/09/20

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on Bernie-endorsed Independent U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner in Maine, the latest Gallup poll showing that 68% Americans are pro-union, more than 97% of park workers at Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon parks vote to unionize, ICE has so far deported half a million. At the same time, DOGE has fired a million federal workers (mostly high-wage), resulting in a significant net job loss nationwide. The second half of the show

29:00

Economic Update: An Argument for a New Labor Party

Economic Update ·

2025/09/13

The left-wing surge of the US working class during the 1930s Great Depression forced the Democratic Party to make the US govt serve the working class more than it ever had before or since. It was called the New Deal. In reaction, the US employer class, angry that gov't programs for the people were paid for by taxes on corporations and the rich, turned to the Republican Party after world war 2 ended in 1945, and directed it to roll back the New Deal, to literally reduce or eliminate all it had

29:00

Economic Update: Social Problems Require Social...

Economic Update ·

2025/09/06

This week's updates covers Trump ending Housing First, Spain goes for a wealth tax, Trump disqualifies unions at government agencies, France's mass movement on September 10th against the Macron government, and Air Canada's strike by flight attendants who defied the government back-to-work order and won against both the Canadian government and their employer, Air Canada.

29:00

Economic Update: Government Deficits; Why They...

Economic Update ·

2025/08/30

Professor Wolff explains what deficits are and why the capitalist system enables and invites employers to cause them. He then proceeds to explain how deficits both solve specific problems of capitalism while also causing others. Over time, problems accumulate to undermine the credit of the US and bring economic crisis. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is shown to offer one way out of the crisis by changing how money is created.

29:00

Economic Update: Best of Economic Update Part 4:...

Economic Update ·

2025/08/23

In this week's episode of the "Best Of Economic Update Series," we examine a comparison between the economic failures we face today caused by the same political forces and capitalists that we have encountered before, as well as the causes and effects of economic policies proven to fail.

29:00

Economic Update: Best Of Series Part 3: Interviews...

Economic Update ·

2025/08/16

This week on Economic Update, we take a look back at some of Prof. Wolff's guest interviews from years past that still echo in today's global socio-economic setting. We hope you're enjoying this "Best Of" series. We will return to regular weekly updates on Labor Day, and as always, we thank you for your attention, support, and solidarity.

29:00

Economic Update: Best Of Series Part 2: The Most...

Economic Update ·

2025/08/09

This week on Economic Update, we revisit two of the most viewed episodes of Economic Update. The first features Professor Wolff's analysis of the key changes driving the emergence of a new economic world order, and the second provides a look at the causes and effects of China's economic achievements.

29:00

Economic Update: Best Of Series Part 1: Psychology &...

Economic Update ·

2025/08/02

This week on Economic Update, we take a look back at Donald Trump's first term as president through the lens of psychology with Dr. Harriet Fraad. She explains what could have led people to vote for him instead of the alternative, and provides a backdrop of the socio-economic situation facing his supporters at that time. She is followed by another interview with Professor Wolff and Dr. Arlie Hochschild, a former sociology professor at UC Berkeley and a renowned author. Her research provides insight

29:00

Economic Update: Mamdani's Win in New York: Causes...

Economic Update ·

2025/07/26

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff discusses the following about Mamdani's victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral race: (1) how it happened, who voted for him and why; (2) the varieties of socialism and the long history of "municipal socialism" in the US and overseas, (3) possible socialist programs for a Mamdani mayoral administration; and (4) tax revenue possibilities to pay for socialist programs.

29:00

Economic Update: Capitalism and Culture, Their...

Economic Update ·

2025/07/19

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff provides updates on Medicare advantage and "pre-authorization" as a way to reduce Medicare payments, liberals and radicals split over Mamdani, Trump's current budget further deepens the inequality of wealth across the US, and Mexico attends the BRICS meeting in Rio de Janeiro. In the second part of today’s show, Professor Wolff interviews Professor Henry Giroux from McMaster University, Canada, on capitalism, culture, and fascism in the

29:00

Economic Update: The Workers' Struggle within The...

Economic Update ·

2025/07/12

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the political theater, of the U.S./Iran hostilities, the political shock of Zohran Mamdani's Democratic primary win in New York City, the withdrawal of union leaders from the Democratic National Committee, and the rising trade among BRICS crosses the $1 trillion milestone. In the second part of today's show, Prof. Wolff interviews two leaders of the musicians' union representing the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera at

29:00

Economic Update: How Deep 'Fascist' Parallels Run

Economic Update ·

2025/07/05

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff, responding to requests, explores the parallels between what led to the rise of Hitler and fascism in Germany after World War I and what has brought the US to Trump and his current policies. Many key basic parallels are presented alongside some remaining differences that help explain why what Trump is doing is not yet what a fully formed US fascism would entail.

29:00

Economic Update: Today's Crisis In the Middle East...

Economic Update ·

2025/06/28

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff has a one-on-one discussion with Pulitzer Prizewinner Chris Hedges, who draws on history, his years as a correspondent and NY Times Middle East Bureau Chief, and his current work on and in the Middle East. He explains why Israel attacked Iran and what the short and long-term prospects are for their war. He also devotes some of his analyses to examining Israel's genocidal policies toward Gaza's Palestinians.

29:00

Economic Update: Making Sense of Trump's Economic Plan

Economic Update ·

2025/06/21

1. How Trump seeks to address the problem of costly American wars and their impact on sharply rising budget deficits,2. How the rising U.S. debt has led to the loss of the United States’ "AAA" credit rating, 3. How Trump’s response is to seek to slash government spending and raise money by imposing tariffs on the entire world, 4. How this backfires as other countries retaliate, hurting US exports and causing the dollar to lose its appeal as the world's safest currency, 5. How China's economic rise

29:00

Economic Update: Analyzing Trump's Mass Support

Economic Update ·

2025/06/14

On this week’s episode of Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on the blow back to Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s rationalization of budget cuts to Medicaid to help fund tax cuts for corporations and the rich, 8,000 Connecticut healthcare workers win contract gains by threatening to strike, and how the advertising industry spawned by capitalism distorts and corrupts human communication. The show's second half features an interview with UC-Berkeley Professor Arlie Hochschild on the reasons

29:00

Economic Update: Europe Declines Faster Than The...

Economic Update ·

2025/06/07

This week's Economic Update looks at how US production of wheel-barrows moved to China, and how the U.S. is adopting a Cold War mentality against China. Also discussed are the socioeconomic effects of US federal workers' being fired, as well as how tariffs alone won't reshore manufacturing. Professor Wolff then delves into the declines in US coal mining, in sales of US McDonald's hamburgers, along with commentary of the economic decline in Europe.

57:00

Economic Update: Who Will Likely Win and Lose the...

Economic Update ·

2025/05/31

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff delivers updates on Trump’s cuts to school mental health counsellors, the mass strike in LA County, why China is better positioned for a trade war with the U.S., and how profit is what drove corporate decisions to relocate U.S. factories overseas thereby making the US economy vulnerable to long, global supply lines.

29:00

Economic Update: The Corporatization of Universities...

Economic Update ·

2025/05/24

This week on Economic Update, Professor Wolff begins by presenting updates on the death of libertarianism and the rise of US economic nationalism, and US universities are becoming big businesses, governed by money concerns. In this episode's second half, Professor Wolff interviews Professor Geert Dhondt, the Chair of the Economics Department and Economics Professor at John Jay College of the City University of New York, on how colleges and universities are reacting to Trump's attack on higher

29:00

Economic Update: Reform Vs. Revolution

Economic Update ·

2025/05/17

Wolff begins this week on Economic Update by analyzing the choice between reform and revolution through two historical discussions: the anti-slavery fight in the mid-19th century and the anti-Depression fight in the U.S. during the 1930s. He then explains the stakes in choosing reform or revolution as goals for social change and outlines how and why both options are now back on the working class's agenda in the U.S. He concludes the discussion by suggesting that revolution is the necessary guarantor

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